Join MOCA in welcoming Principal Dancer of the National Ballet, Siphesihle November, for an evening of intimate conversation and performance. Siphesihle has worked closely with MOCA to choreograph Sun in Bloom, a site-specific performance in dialogue with the museum’s current exhibition, Remediation by Kapwani Kiwanga. His dance and choreographic practice are heavily influenced by the African diaspora and his own personal experiences of migration.
Siphesihle came to dance through Kwaito, a genre of music that emerged in South Africa in the 1990s. From there he began to mix hip-hop with ballet stylings, performing in the streets of his hometown, Zolani. These roots, combined with the inspiration from Kiwanga’s work, have resulted in the development of a unique and personal composition that speaks to themes of intervention, change and colonial histories.
The performance will be followed by a conversation between Siphesihle and MOCA’s Curator of Public Programmes, Candice Cavanagh. The pair will explore Siphesihle’s choreographic and dance practices, as well as expanding on the process of responding to an existing exhibition of contemporary art.
Lighting design by Emerson Kafarowski.
About the Artist
Siphesihle November, born in Zolani, South Africa, is a Principal Dancer of the National Ballet of Canada with talents that extend into choreography, movement modelling, street dancing and music. November’s dance and choreographic practice draws from his inspiring personal experiences, which have been encapsulated in the documentary film Beyond Moving (2019).
His talent in ballet is exemplary, studying at Canada’s National Ballet School on a scholarship as the youngest and only Black Principal Dancer currently in the National Ballet. In 2022, he choreographed his first work, On Solid Ground, for the National Ballet of Canada’s main stage and was also awarded the BBPA Harry Jerome Award for Excellence in the Arts.
